The first shots of the Civil War were actually fired in Charleston, South Carolina. On December 20, 1860 South Carolina became the first state to secede from The United States of America based upon its adamant defense of slavery and it’s insistence upon “states rights” to rule itself which translates into making it’s own rules in all matters regardless of how such rules would impact the life of others. Read for yourself what the South Carolina Assembly wrote for their justification to secede:

“We affirm that these ends for which this Government was instituted have been defeated, and the Government itself has been made destructive of them by the action of the non-slaveholding States. Those States have assume the right of deciding upon the propriety of our domestic institutions; and have denied the right of property established in fifteen of the States and recognized by the Constitution; they have denounced as sinful the institution of slavery; they have permitted open establishment among them of societies, whose avowed object is to disturb the peace and to eloign the property of the citizens of other States. They have encouraged and assisted thousands of our slaves to leave their homes; and those who remain, have been incited by emissaries, books and pictures to servile insurrection.”

As early as 1861 The Citadel Military Academy ordered cadets to fire the first shots of the Civil War on a Federal ship attempting to enter the harbor in Charleston. Ironically it is the Citadel that to this day, July 10, 2015, continues to fly the Confederate flag in South Carolina. The Citadel had a history of training those recruited militia individuals who were fighting against The United States of America.

The American Civil War (1861–1865), among other names also known as the War Between the States, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America, also known as “the Confederacy”. This new “Confederacy” led by Jefferson Davis also had it’s own flag….The Confederate Flag. Those Southern States were see as traitors against the United States of America.

The Civil War remains the deadliest war in American history, resulting in the deaths of 620,000 soldiers and an undetermined number of civilian casualties. Ten percent of all Northern males 20–45 years of age died, as did 30 percent of all Southern white males aged 18–40. Victory for the North meant the end of the Confederacy and of slavery in the United States, and strengthened the role of the federal government.

It becomes clearer why even today so many Southern States are opposed to the role of the Federal Government. The Federal Government now as was during the period of The Civil War seen as “The Federal Union” which was against the rights of South Carolina and Southern States who advocated slavery and state rights. These Southern States had a deeply held financial and self serving agenda for wanting to have a Confederacy:

As of 1860 the percentage of Southern families that owned slaves has been estimated to be 43 percent in the lower South, 36 percent in the upper South and 22 percent in the border states that fought mostly for the Union. Half the owners had one to four slaves. A total of 8000 planters owned 50 or more slaves in 1850 and only 1800 planters owned 100 or more; of the latter, 85% lived in the lower South, as opposed to one percent in the border states.

Ninety-five percent of African-Americans lived in the South, comprising one third of the population there as opposed to one percent of the population of the North, chiefly in larger cities like New York and Philadelphia. Consequently, fears of eventual emancipation were much greater in the South than in the North.

The Confederate Flag in the eyes of individuals who know the history of Slavery, States Rights and why Southern States seceded from The United States of America is a clear sign of ongoing rebellion against the government of The United States of America. The bigger message communicated by the Confederate flag is it’s image of an ongoing rebellion and protest against The United States Federal Government for its role in abolishing the enterprise system set up by the Southern States to maintain a financial system funded upon the product of crops, slave trade, and formation of a political and religious system deemed right in their own sight.

All American citizens should rejoice together that what was the symbol for “rebellion”, “treason”, “disregard for fairness”, “disregard for godliness”, “disregard for remorse” and “disregard for one nation united as one” has finally been removed from the public view in South Carolina. The paramount next step is much more challenging. How do you remove those things held within the hearts of people that may still be inside of them? The external flag was a manifestation of the internal heart of those who over 150 years later desired that it not be removed.

“Don’t you understand yet?” Jesus asked, “Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. But the words you speak come from the heart – that’s what defiles you. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. Matthew 15:16-20